Industry data reveals improved turnover, extended ramp-up times, and talent development gaps
Solomon Coyle is pleased to announce the release of the 2025 Compensation & Practices Survey Report, offering the industry’s most comprehensive look at salary, benefits, and HR practices among commercial furniture distributors and installation companies. This biennial report includes data from over 170 dealerships across North America, covering compensation trends for more than 14,000 employees across Sales, Sales Management, and Non-Sales roles.
“Record-level participation in this year’s survey reflects dealers’ high interest in understanding industry norms related to staff development, compensation levels, and employee benefits. In addition to the popular interactive compensation analysis tool, fueled by over 14,000 staff entries, survey participants get access to the 89-page report covering distributor channel employment practices.
This report surfaced some interesting trends.
For example, we see a significant drop in voluntary (employee-triggered) turnover as a percent of overall turnover from 83.5% two years ago to 66.5% now. DEI – diversity, equity, and inclusion – investment also declined, with the percent of dealers that consider the development and implementation of a DEI strategy to be important falling from over 55% two years ago to roughly one-third now.” – John Joseph, Director of Business Analytics & Technology at Solomon Coyle
Key Insights from the Report
While overall turnover has declined, the makeup of that turnover is shifting. Voluntary exits remain high, especially in Sales roles. Dealers are investing more in structured onboarding and mentoring, but ramp-up timelines remain long. At the same time, fewer sales teams are meeting quota, and compensation strategies remain steady. The data reflects an industry working to stabilize performance while navigating continued talent development challenges.
• Turnover is trending down, with overall rates dropping to 12.5% and voluntary exits now representing 66.5% of all turnover (down from 83.5%).
• Sales performance softened, with just 32.7 percent of dealers reporting quota attainment, down from 44 percent in the previous survey.
• Structured onboarding is now standard, with 78 percent of dealers reporting defined programs for sales teams, up from 70.6 percent.
• Mentoring programs are gaining traction, with over 60% of dealers offering them and nearly half lasting 7+ months.
• Ramp-up time remains lengthy, with more than 75% of dealers reporting that new sales hires require 13+ months to reach full productivity.
• Compensation strategy remains conservative, with 72.3% of dealers aiming to pay at or near market rate.
The report also includes detailed compensation data by role, region, revenue, company size, and market characteristics, along with insight into sales compensation plans, training practices, onboarding structure, and employee development trends.
Accessing the Report
Thank you to all the dealerships who participated in this year’s survey. Your input makes this critical benchmarking resource possible.
• Participants can access the full report and compensation analysis tool by logging in at https://bi.solomoncoyle.com.
• Non-participants may purchase the report directly at solomoncoyle.com/research/compensation-practices.
For questions or support, contact support@solomoncoyle.com.